First airliner to fall out of the sky due to loss of power and this initiative is over.
“First airliner to fall out of the sky due to loss of power and this initiative is over.”
Easy trigger. SAF are aromatic hydrocarbons of the exact specifications of JET A1 or JP8 they are molecule by molecule identical. They also must meet ASTM D1655 and DEF STAN 91-91 specifically and exactly. The reason they are 4x the cost is they are synthesized molecule by molecule this is currently expensive. Because the raw value of energy per megajoule in liquid hydrocarbons that are fossil sunshine from the ground are a fraction of the cost of the same megajoule from say biomass or carbon dioxide and hydrogen captured from the air or slip from water.
Airbus has already flow an A380 across the Atlantic and to the UAE on 100% synthetic hydrocarbons aka SAF. The Germans flew a lot of aircraft using similar fuels in WII made much the same way via syngas they used coal rather than biomass for the source of the syngas but the cobalt catalysts don’t care where they get CO + H2’
At some point in less than 47 ish years humans will have no choice but to synthesis liquid hydrocarbons as all the easy to get amounts anywhere at any price will be used up. No abiotic oil is a myth no petroleum geologist anywhere has presented and survived peer review EVER. The path forward should be nuclear power, specifically fast spectrum reactors right next to the oceans where you have a convenient source of not only unlimited water but also 180 times as much CO2 as in the air per unit of volume moved. The Navy has already made JP8 using seawater and a bipolar electrolysis setup you get all the CO2 in seawater before a single hydrogen atom comes out it’s a unavoidable byproduct of the process. They did in for $6 per gallon in 2014 dollars. This is the long term only way aircraft still fly once humans get to $300+ per bbl oil due to resource depletion.
The math is conclusive we have 48 years before oil is way to precious to burn it to the sky using it only once. Much more valuable for petrochemicals,medications,lubricants,plastics,adhesives,composites,fertilizers...
Owen has echoed this same fact with liquid hydrocarbons being a finite and rapidly depleting resource when you have only two billion using it in gusto wait till the other 6 billion demand and get access to that supply.